Travel tips

china hights

Xian City Wall

When Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644),
captured Huizhou, a hermit named Zhu Sheng admonished him that he should built
high walls, store abundant food supplies and take time to be an Emperor, so
that he could fortify the city and unify the other states. After the
establishment of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice and began
to enlarge the wall built initially during the old Tang dynasty (618 -907),
creating the modern Xian City Wall. Its the most complete city wall that has
survived in China, as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive
systems in the world.

After the extension, the wall now stands 12 meters (40 feet) tall, 12-14
meters (40-46 feet) wide at the top and 15-18 meters (50-60 feet) thick at the
bottom. It covers 13.7 kilometers (8.5 miles) in length with a deep moat
surrounding it. Every 120 meters, there is a rampart which extends out from the
main wall. All together, there are 98 ramparts on the wall, which were built to
defend against the enemy climbing up the wall. Each rampart has a sentry
building, in which the soldiers could protect the entire wall without exposing
themselves to the enemy. Besides, the distance between every two ramparts is
just within the range of an arrow shot from either side, so that they could
shoot the enemy, who wanted to attack the city, from the side. On the outer side
of the city wall, there are 5948 crenellations, namely battlements. The soldiers
can outlook and shoot at the enemy. On the inner side, parapets were built to
protect the soldiers from falling off.

Since the ancient weapons did not have the power to break through a wall
and the only way for an enemy to enter the city was by attacking the gate of the
city wall. This is why complicated gate structures were built within the wall.
In Xian, the city wall includes four gates and they are respectively named as
Changle (meaning eternal joy) in the east, Anding (harmony peace) in the west,
Yongning (eternal peace) in the south and Anyuan (forever harmony) in the north.
The south gate, Yongning, is the most beautifully decorated one. It is very near
to the Bell Tower, center of the city. Important greeting ceremonies organized
by the Provincial Government are usually held in the south gate square.

Each city gate has three gate towers: Zhenglou, Jianlou and Zhalou. The
most outside is Zhalou, which stands away from the City Wall and is opposite to
Zhenglou. It was used to raise and lower the suspension bridge. Jianlou with
small windows in the front and flanks was used as a defensive outpost. Zhenglou,
in the inner, is the main entrance to the city. The wall connects Jianlou and
Zhenglou Towers. The area between them within the wall was called Wong Cheng,
in which the soldiers stationed. From Wong Cheng, there are sloped horse
passages leading to the top of the city wall.

Initially, the wall was built with layers of dirt, with the base layer
including also lime and glutinous rice extract. Throughout the time Xian City
Wall has been restored three times. In 1568, Zhang Zhi (the government officer
of that period) was in charge to rebuild the wall with bricks. In 1781, another
officer, Bi Yuan, refitted the city wall and the gate towers. More recently
(since 1983) the Shaanxi Provincial Government restored the city wall again. A
circular park has been built along the high wall and the deep moat. The thriving
trees and flowers decorate the classical Chinese architecture of the wall,
adding additional beauty to the city of Xian.